• Peruvian_Skies@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    That still seems like semantics to me.

    I don’t know your background in physics. If you were to say “I feel that neutrinos make up most of what we call Black Matter”, I’d get the impression that you’re basing that statement on emotion, a gut feeling, aesthetics or something equally flimsy. If you said “I know that neutrinos…” I’d call bullshit because afaik there isn’t any conclusive evidence yet either way.

    If you said “I believe that neutrinos…” I’d assume that, despite the lack of conclusive evidence, according to your current level of understanding of the currently available evidence, you have reasoned that this is the strongest current hypothesis. Now, if you said “I have faith that neutrinos…”, I’d completely dismiss you as a crazy person.

    So I don’t think that we disagree about concepts here. We’re disagreeing about which words we use to represent those concepts.

    • lazyraccoon@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      If that is the case, then yes. We disagree on Semantics, but also on the confusion caused due to ambiguity:

      To use your example, I believe means “Despite the lack of conclusive evidence, and according to my personal level of understanding of the current evidence, I reason that…”

      Another common use is: “regardless of evidence, thought or understanding, my religious dogma declares that…”

      See… Now… That’s almost diametrically opposed. Almost reminiscent of Nietzsche’s descriptions of churches as graveyards, and the people praying to a dead god.

      So you can argue that it is semantics, but I think it is also to avoid ambiguity. To speak plainly and to the point.

      Tl;Dr -“I do not only reject god, but his vocabulary”.

      • Peruvian_Skies@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        So what do you suggest I say instead of “believe” or “feel”? Because I think it’s equally important to distinguish the sort of “belief” I was referring to from actually “knowing” something.

        • lazyraccoon@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          The sort of belief you mentioned is not a belief nor a feeling, it is exactly what it is - a hypothesis, lacking conclusive evidence, yet appears to be a logical conclusion born of certain arguments and facts that support it.

          Therefore, “I support the idea of”, or “I recognize that”, or “I feel that” are much more appropriate than “I believe that”. You can paint in whatever shade of certainty you wish.

          “Knowing” is just the highest level of confidence in the hypothesis.